Flu outbreak sickens 200 trainees at Lackland Air Force Base

More than 200 service members at a Texas base have contracted the flu following a new Pentagon policy that allows flu vaccinations to be optional.

Over the past three weeks, the training wing at Lackland Air Force Base has suffered from a localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training, an Air Force spokesperson told Military Times.

“Medical professionals and Public Health officials have implemented mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees to reduce further exposure and continue to monitor the situation,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson declined to comment on how many trainees contracted the flu. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, whose district includes the Lackland base, said in a social media post that there were 222 flu cases as of Thursday.

The flu outbreak comes just two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that service members would no longer be required to get an annual flu vaccine, calling the previous policy that dated back to the 1950s “overly broad and not rational.”

The policy change drew criticism from some lawmakers, who called it a mistake.

“It was a reckless decision that put troops in harm’s way and undermined our military readiness,” Castro said in a separate social media post following news of the outbreak.

According to an October 2025 Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division report, the vaccine helped prevent the flu’s impact among older service members and can assist in protecting the overall health of the military, especially in recruit stations, which have the highest rates of flu infections every year.

The highest cumulative hospitalization rate among active-duty service members occurred in individuals 25 years old and younger, the report found.

“Military trainees have historically been vulnerable to acute respiratory disease due to relative immune compromise from physical, environmental, and psychological stress,” the report reads. ^“Multiple studies have reported that recruits have a higher incidence of influenza-like illnesses compared to non-recruits.”

The 37th Training Wing, which is housed at Lackland, trains more than 36,000 troops per year.

Following the enactment of the new policy, military services expressed the need for exemptions.

Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata told senators in May the department solicited input from the services, which responded with “a robust set of exception” requests. It is not clear what all those exceptions entail.

The Air Force received an exemption to vaccinate all trainees, a source familiar with the matter told Military Times. The Air Force did not specify when the exemption was put into place. The New York Times, which first reported the outbreak at Lackland, wrote that the exemption went into effect after flu cases at the base spiked.

Keon McDaniel, a basic military trainee from the 737th Training Support Squadron at Lackland, died at Brooke Army Medical Center on June 16 from a medical emergency, according to a base statement. McDaniel was in his sixth week of BMT, and the investigation into the cause of the medical emergency is currently underway.

The Air Force spokesperson declined to comment on if his passing was related to the flu outbreak.

Medical personnel are also monitoring trainees who were in close contact with sick members for symptoms, the spokesperson said, and symptomatic trainees are receiving care with antiviral medications, such as Tamiflu.

Trainees can return to training once they are cleared by medical professionals, the spokesperson said.

Alongside the Defense Department’s reversal of flu vaccination requirements, the department and the White House have taken measures to allow for the return of service members who left because of their refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

About 8,000 troops across the military voluntarily or involuntarily left service after refusing to get vaccinated.